Epicly Later’d Interview: Guy Mariano Talks about Sean Malto

After Patrick O'Dell was done filming the latest Epicly Later'd featuring Sean Malto he sat down with Guy Mariano to discuss how Sean got on Girl and why he's always nice to the waitress.

Photos: Jerry Hsu

Patrick O’Dell: Tell me about when Sean got on Girl. It was after you got back on and everything, right?
Guy Mariano: Yeah I guess what could be kind of funny is that me and Sean got on Girl at the same time. And here we are.

And he was flow for a while — do you remember that?
Yeah, I mean, if you’re on Girl, you’re on flow for a while. I think that Sean is one of the ones that came up the ranks pretty quick at Girl. Sam [Smythe] was getting his sponsor-me tapes for a long time, I think. And I remember seeing some of those, like those Escapist videos where he knocks his teeth out or something or he takes that face shot — the one that gave him that tooth.

I noticed — even though everyone should be this way for skateboarding, but maybe he’s the exception to the rule — you go into a coffee shop and he knows the people whether they skate or not and he’s nice to the waitress…
You know what I think it is? I think Sean grew up in the Midwest, and people are known for their hospitality and being really nice. I think that’s a characteristic that really stuck with Sean, you know what I mean? And it was rad because Sean got on Girl and everything, and he blew up and he became this big thing, but he still stayed in Kansas City, and he still kept it tight with his homies. I think if you’re with a big solid group like that, it helps keep you grounded and it helps keep you normal. The other thing, too — when Sean grew up and made it — is that he didn’t just move out to California. He has his house in Kansas. If he wants to be in Cali, he comes out and kicks it and does his thing, but it’s like… he’s just… the boy is good. He’s just a good old boy from the Midwest.

It’s cool that you guys found him — not like you took him from somewhere else. It has got to be rare to find someone that young. Like in his sponsor-me tape, he’s wearing a helmet.
It’s so hard to find someone when they’re young because you don’t know what’s going to happen with all that time. You’ve got that 13-year-old kid who’s really good, but you’re like, “What’s going to happen?” You can’t predict that. If there’s been any example of seeing a kid and knowing that he’s going to be the one that makes it, Sean would be that example.

Have you ever seen him upset?
The one time I’ve ever seen him upset, it might have been a switch-front shove-it down a double-set and I saw him focus a board.